Basically the author argues about the real limits of choices.
She wrote that there are cultural practices harmful to women and enforced by societal norms (aka patriarchy) that hurts the health of women, like in example breast implants, and that these practices should be outlawed by a government that really keep care of gender equality and women wellbeing, for the purpose to send a message and to begin a real change of cultural norms harmful to women.
Of course, that can even be framed as a limitation to the freedom of women, but the point is: it's real freedom if women are enforced by patriarchal cultural norms to basically perform a violent and harmful modification of their bodies?
What do you think, NSGs, about it?
More informations:
The author, a radical feminist from Cambridge University, UK
http://www.phil.cam.ac.uk/people/teachi ... mbers-page
The review
http://www.palgrave-journals.com/fr/jou ... 0832a.html
Chambers's use of the notion of ‘cosmetic knee implants’ to jolt readers into appreciating how thoroughly bizarre cosmetic breast implants are, in the absence of patriarchal norms and pressures: ‘Until breast implants seem as peculiar as knee implants, we cannot say that a woman chooses to have them for reasons divorced from patriarchy and thus that her decision is irrelevant to justice’ (p. 40). Throughout, Chambers's book draws fruitfully on two literatures – post-modern philosophy with its giants Foucault and Bourdieu, and analytic political philosophy with its giants Rawls and Raz (among others). These literatures are frequently kept separate in the academy and attract separate followings, but Chambers succeeds in bringing them to bear on one another. Plenty of feminists have tried to write books that have an impact on – in the sense of altering – mainstream, androcentric, liberal theory. But they have sometimes failed, perhaps because they are too dependent on jargon peculiar to gender studies, or because they do not engage enough with liberal theorists’ recent debates and preoccupations. Chambers' book deftly avoids both of these problems, so there is real potential here for this book to alter mainstream liberal thinking.
Another, and maybe more clear, review:
http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/impact/fe ... -of-choice
All societies have social norms – unspoken rules that we live by if we want to fit in. In most Western countries, it is normal for men to wear trousers and not skirts. While some men might see this as a constraint, most will have not even thought about it, and would be surprised or embarrassed if skirt-wearing was suggested. So the idea of ‘normal’ is deeply ingrained, and is part of a natural human desire to blend into our social context.
But these norms can become more sinister if they lead a person to do something that is harmful to their health in order to conform. In many countries women are judged very strongly on their appearance, and there are many unwritten rules about how a woman should look – she should not have grey hair, or be round, or have breasts that are too small or too saggy.
Wearing make-up or dressing in a certain style are some of the ways in which women conform to these beauty norms. But these choices are not harmful, whereas invasive surgery – with all the potential complications it can bring – clearly is.
The power of social pressure
Chambers’ book challenges liberal and multicultural theories that see choice as the mark of a just society, and cultural norms as something to be protected at all costs. The argument goes that if someone does something by choice, even if it means they are worse off than other people, it’s not a problem.
Chambers points out that people make choices within the framework of social rules and pressures. She argues that this framework affects what options are open to an individual, and can even affect their desires.
In a society where women are not allowed to have certain jobs, their options are clearly limited. But even in a more open society, the desire to fit in with social norms can affect what we want to do. If a woman decides she wants breast implants, Chambers argues she is not making that decision in a vacuum. Social norms are influencing both her options and her preferences, and leading her to choose something which can have serious implications for her health.
